Cemeteries in Manila City will be temporarily closed from October 31 to November 3

MANILA, Philippines — Mayor Isko Moreno on Tuesday announced that cemeteries in Manila City would be closed for All Saints Day and All Souls day in order to prevent mass gatherings which could contribute to the spread of COVID-19.

"I have signed Executive Order No. 38, wherein starting October 31 until November 3, I will temporarily close cemeteries [in Manila]," Moreno said in Filipino during a video aired live on his Facebook page.

He added that the early announcement was made to give the public more time to prepare and visit their departed loved ones before the said dates.

"I am doing this now to give you enough time, within more or less two months from now, to visit your departed loved ones, in private columbaria, in private cemeteries, and in public cemeteries like the South Cemetery and the North Cemetery," the mayor said in Filipino.

Presenting the challenges posed by All Saints Day and All Souls Day to physical distancing, Moreno cited 105, 837 departed persons who have been laid to rest in the Manila North Cemetery along with 1.5 million visitors who were expected to troop to the burial ground within three days.

Moreno added that a number of these 1.5 million expected visitors would have come from several provinces in Luzon as well as parts of Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, the mayor said that 39,228 are buried in Manila South Cemetery and around 800,000 would have been expected to visit if not for the temporary closure. — Bella Perez-Rubio